You can find these fish in near shallow marshy bays in weed beds, at about 4-12 feet deep. The Northern is also a spring spawner. When water temperatures reach 40-52 degrees the northerns enter heavily vegetated, shallow bays. Sometimes theses bays are less than 1 foot deep! The eggs are scattered in the bay and attach to the vegetation. Northerns up here are slow growing but can live 25 years!
Most pike are caught in less than 15 feet of water. Present him with any of your favorite crank or surface baits - just remember to use a leader. When the northern pike hovers about 3 feet from your bait, be patient. When a northern is feeding, he will often turn his prey around, kill it, and then will swallow it head first. Northerns are predators that will eat anything that fits in their mouths including perch, walleye, other northerns, mice, frogs, ducklings ---- or that stringer of fish you have hanging over the side of your boat. It's not uncommon to hear your stringer thrashing around and find a big northern pike holding on to one of your walleyes. Look for pike along weed beds, trolling through bays, and on points of land and islands. It's not uncommon to catch northerns as you are fishing for walleyes on the reefs. As the water warms, look for the northerns in a little deeper water, still near weedy areas. Realize northern pike are aggressive...right through the summer...so don't be shy-go for them aggressively.
Northern Pike are notorious for their sharp teeth. Sharp hooks are a must! Handle smaller northerns by grabbing it across the back-just behind the gill covers. You don't have to worry about sharp dorsal fins as you do on the walleye. If you need to get a hook out-use a hook remover-those teeth are sharp and the mouth is big! Use a net to bring in a larger northern. Take your time and tire him out...playing the fish is half the fun!
Crank baits are an excellent suggestion when hunting for trophy Northern Pike. Make sure to match the size of the lure to the size of fish you are chasing. In this case-bigger bait-bigger fish. As the season progresses, Northern Pike are more aggressive. Use a softer, less aggressive approach in the spring...and ratchet it up as the season progresses. Vary your retrieve. Speed up-slow down. Twitch it-hop it. Change the action and you'll soon be saying 'fish on!"
